Ellipsis Health, a developer of an AI-based voice biomarker app that assesses speech for behavioral health conditions such as stress, depression, and anxiety in less than 60 seconds, raised $26 million in Series A funding.
SJF Ventures led the investment round with participation from AblePartners, Akhil Paul at Caparo Group, Alumni Ventures, Divesh Makan, Gaingels, Gary Loveman, Generator Ventures, Greycroft, Helmy Eltoukhy, Joanne Bradford, Khosla Ventures, Luminous Ventures, TIME Ventures, Richard Socher, Ricardo Villela Marino, SpringTide Ventures, and What If Ventures.
With the fresh funds, Ellipsis Health plans to grow its customer base, expand global partnerships, build a multidisciplinary team, research and develop new voice-based technology, and continue its work in dismantling the pervasive stigmas around behavioral health.
Ellipsis Health has developed an artificial intelligence-powered, speech-based vital sign assessment app that quantifies and manages stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms at scale. The app, powered by machine-learning algorithms, assess patient speech through cloud-based deep learning models and generate an automated assessment of stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms for clinical decision support.
According to the company, its app’s machine-learning models analyze what is said (using natural language processing) and how it is said (acoustics, such as tone and timing) to better understand a person’s emotional state. The app integrates with mobile devices, patient portals, and telehealth visits, enabling data-driven care, workflow efficiency, and positive economics for providers, insurers, and employers.
“Now more than ever, we need to prioritize the adoption of solutions that scale access to mental health awareness, diagnosis, and evidence-based treatment,” remarks Cody Nystrom, Managing Director with SJF Ventures. “To effect meaningful and urgent change, providers need efficient, scalable clinical decision support technology like Ellipsis Health to help identify and stratify patients so we can appropriately treat behavioral health conditions early and often.”
mHealth Apps raised a record $1.6 billion in venture funding in 1H 2021, a 100% increase year-over-year, according to the recently released Mercom’s 1H 2021 Digital Health Funding and M&A Report.
